Waldemar Iglesias
07/24/2020 - 18:25
- Clarín.com
- sports
In soccer there are coaches of all styles. The bold, the defensive, those who change, those who seek to manage scarce resources, those who try to deal with complex changing rooms from the arrival to the player. There are variants for all tastes. Everyone wins and loses. And an impression remains: there are no absolute truths . No one has the magic book. Rigorous, comprehensive, methodical, adaptable ... There is everything in the world of technicians. Is there any better way than another? Does anyone have the perfect formula? Go a review by names and work systems.
Alfio Basile is the last Argentine coach to win a Copa América (he won the one in Chile 1991 and the one in Ecuador 1993, both undefeated) and also the last FIFA competition (the Confederations Cup of Saudi Arabia 1992, then called King Fahd ). The history of the 1994 World Cup is known to the world: Diego Maradona's doping suspect altered the plans of a team that seemed capable of devastating.
Even in those days of triumphs and consecrations, many complained with a hurtful phrase: "Coco does not work." For his simplicity, for his simple way of standing up to soccer discussions, he paid that price. But those victories were decorated by several prepared plays (such as the appearances of Darío Franco almost as a forward) or from a stopped ball, born in Ezeiza's practices.
When he directed Boca in 2005 and 2006, he was shot with ice cubes on the Arsenal court. "For you to use with whiskey," they yelled at him. He played five tournaments. He won them all. But the stigma that he was not a methodical and modern coach still stood. Of course he also had stumbles, but his record should be the envy of almost all who currently lead in the top flight in Argentina.
Gustavo Alfaro, coach of decent campaigns, with good press, associated with defensive football, going to look for rebounds, shooting centers, was multi-champion with Arsenal of the times of Don Julio Grondona. However, it is scarcely discussed, beyond his style that usually seems stripped of a certain aesthetic search.
Marcelo Gallardo, the most successful coach in River's history, is an amalgamation of styles. He is a technician who adapts. No one can say that he is a bilardist, a menottist, a bielsista. He built himself up to become a statue for all time. Its great virtue: knowing how to adapt to different circumstances and the resources it has. A luck of Carlos Bianchi, but from the other shore and with the red band on the chest.
"I am a failure specialist," said Marcelo Bielsa, the coach who championed Leeds and moved an entire city, said several times. The one who won three of the five Leagues he directed in Argentina (two with Newell's and one with Vélez), the one who lost the Libertadores and Copa América finals on penalties, the one who led Athletic Bilbao to two finals, the who fell in love with Marseille and returned prominence to the empire of PSG. With an added virtue: it transformed acceptable players into elite cracks . But they still get the bill for the 2002 World Cup, that cry in Miyagi's locker room, after the elimination in the first round. He came from being chosen the best coach of the previous year.
From each place he left he left a legacy. He is remembered for his human conditions and also for a job that leaves traces to follow. He is a trainer. It is a way of driving .
Pep Guardiola, one of the most successful coaches of all time, with the sextet with Barcelona as the main unmatched exponent, says that Bielsa is "the best of all of us". He repeated it now, when he welcomed him to the Premier League. And he says it even though his teams do not play identically.
The Catalan, now coach of Manchester City and also an admirer of César Menotti, is the paradigm of possession football. The ball is a religion that must be worshiped. Is conviced. And so their teams play. He did it even at Bayern Munich, historically associated with more physical, more vertical football. There, in Germany, he was also champion.
José Mourinho, today in Tottenham Hotspur, was the last to amaze in the Champions League that does not admit surprises (he was consecrated with Porto, in 2004) and the last to give Inter an Orejona (in 2010). In several of those parties in a way that does not deny: il catenaccio . He doesn't mind being criticized. Not now, not never. "Did we win? Yes. Done. That's the only thing that matters," he says. Bilardism in its purest form .
Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, heads up in the Premier League.Photo :, Reuters
Controversial, talkative, irascible, he became Pep's counterpart for a decade. Especially in the times when he was in charge of Real Madrid. And like all the previous ones, with his formula, he had to win and lose.
He has already learned it since he arrived in the Premier League: there are no invincibles. Not even Jürgen Klopp , the maker of this Liverpool that won the last Champions League and swept the recent Premier League. But in this 19/20 edition he crossed paths with Atlético de Madrid and stayed out at Anfield, after losing 3-2.
Precisely Diego Pablo Simeone gives his Aleti a seasoned style, of constant dynamics and perfection when it comes to punishing in time and defending zero in the opposite arc. He has eight consecutive seasons on the podium of the three best in Spain, with outstanding participation in the Champions League. A whole era of Cholo .
Like what Zinedine Zidane has built at Real Madrid and the titles that have allowed him to win as a tamer of egos that he is. He was talented on the court as a player and shows a group management that thinks of the footballer and that he earns their respect for saying what he thinks in a simple way and defending the lineage of Madrid.
The feeling that occurs in Argentina is reiterated in Europe: there are no magic formulas or methods that contain particularities to guarantee victory. It is soccer. Territory of amazement and surprises.